Travel Tech CEO Series: Farelogix Tries to Profit From Airline Distribution Turmoil
Photo Credit: Farelogix CEO Jim Davidson is a regular on the airline conference circuit. His company helps Lufthansa and 18 other airlines with pricing, merchandising, and direct distribution. But getting airfares to agencies while bypassing the traditional middlemen is harder than it looks. Farelogix
Skift Take
Lufthansa Group and IAG (the parent of British Airways) are striving to shake up airline distribution. One of the tech providers that they've hired to do this is Farelogix, whose boss, Jim Davidson, has a provocative vision of the future that's running into commercial resistance.
Editor's Note: This year we expanded our coverage of the technology companies that do the behind-the-scenes work of powering the technology systems of the world's major travel companies.
We’re chatting with a handful of industry leaders for our new Travel Tech CEO Listening Series to discover where they think the industry is heading. Read the other articles the series here.
This spring, International Airlines Group (IAG) -- the parent company British Airways -- lashed out at the business model used by three airline distribution middlemen, Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport.
Starting in November, IAG plans to slap surcharges on flights sold via those third-parties to travel agents. It will copy similar fees added by Lufthansa Group in 2015.
The moves by the two airline groups (plus a similar one by tiny Ukranian International) may have set in motion a global shake-up in how flights are marketed and sold.
Through the surcharges, the airlines intend to coax travel agencies
